The Edge of Time
by TheGhostOfaWriter
Summary: During a raid, Ziva is shot by an arrow, an arrow laced with a substance unknown to Abby, a substance that has been found at every one of the suspect's crime scenes. Their child murder wasn't killing children, he was turning adults into children.
1. Prolougue

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS, I am merely borrowing it.

A/N: This idea has been in my mind for a while now. If you don't like it, don't read it. Reviews make me update.

WARNING: Updating may not be a regular thing, I have a gazillion assignments due and exams to prepare for, this is merely a muse to keep my mind off the stress.

Prologue

_'Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in'._

'David, DiNozzo! What have you got'? Gibbs barked at the two agents.

'A warehouse in Alexandria has been paid for in the suspect's name'. Tony said, furiously typing at his computer.

'Ziva sent the address to me, Boss' McGee said as he grabbed his gun and badge from his desk drawer, his two co-workers followed in his example.

'Let's move'. He ordered from the elevator.

Gibbs' team raced through the steel doors, just before they closed.

'I want this to be a retrieval only. Don't shoot unless it's necessary'. Gibbs told his team.

They had been in search of the killer for weeks, the man's name was Ahren Heinrich, a German bio-chemical engineer. For three weeks the team had suffered through investigating the murders of children. Their ages varied, but the method he used remained the same, all of the victims had puncture wounds to their bodies, made by an arrow.

After analyzing an arrow head that was left in one of the children, Abby discovered that it was laced with a chemical substance that her equipment couldn't identify. It was torture for her. There was a man on the loose who was poisoning children and dumping their bodies. To her despair her beloved science couldn't help bring this monster to justice.

It wasn't until Tony discovered the fingertip of a latex glove at one of the many crime scenes that Abby discovered the name of the murderer. Ahren Heinrich. She would make sure that this bastard would rot in hell.

Gibbs kicked in the door of the warehouse. Tony and Ziva entered with their guns drawn, they scanned the building and once Gibbs heard both of the agents shout 'clear', he and McGee walked into the large building.

'There are enough chemical weapons in here to fuel a small army'. Ziva observed.

Surrounding them were various vials of what they could only assume to be chemicals compounds.

'We have another problem'. Tony spoke up.

He pointed toward the corpse of a boy who looked no older than 3 years. His face was blue and a belt was wrapped around his neck. The toddler had clearly been strangled to death.

Ziva leant over the small boy and closed his eyes. She had seen many dead children, but it never gets easier.

'He's killed this one differently'. McGee said, taking note of the belt raveled around the child's small neck.

'You think'? Tony snapped.

'Enough' Gibbs growled. Arguing wouldn't find the killer. 'McGee, call headquarters, I want every square inch of this building bagged and tagged. Ziva, Tony, collect anything that could lead us to Heinrich'. Gibbs said as he flipped open his phone.

'Yeah, Duck, we have another one'. Gibbs said solemnly.

'132 Price Road, Alexandria' He spoke before hanging up.

Gibbs looked to his stationary team and yelled, 'What the hell are you doing standing around? Get to work'!

They all jumped into their tasks, McGee dialed for backup, while Tony and Ziva searched opposite ends of the warehouse.

'Gibbs. I think I found something'. Ziva yelled out.

'What'? He asked.

'A calendar. Four dates are marked and there is a sticky note'. She said as she pulled the calendar down.

At the same moment the calendar left the wall, an arrow flew out from the spot it was hanging from and hit Ziva.

She gasped and stumbled backward, clutching at her chest. The calendar was long forgotten.

'Ziva'. Gibbs said in surprise as she collapsed into his arms.

'Call for a medic'! He yelled at no one in particular. Keep pressure on the wound. He pressed on her chest, eliciting a gasp from Ziva.

'The dates..' She murmured.

'Don't try to talk'. Gibbs said.

He looked down at where the arrow had hit, it was sitting a few inches short of her heart.

'Paramedics are on their way'. McGee said from behind Gibbs.

Tony was almost immediately by Ziva's side, but she was oblivious to him. He looked over the calender and understood what she meant.

'Boss, the dates circled are 26, 30, 36 and 56 days from today. Those are our ages'. Tony said and he held up the sticky note.

_'Whoever the arrow hits'_

'I think he's poisoned her'. Tony whispered.

'The hospital can fix this'. McGee spoke up and he recited like it was a mantra, 'She'll be okay'.

When Ducky arrived at the scene, Gibbs was standing in the door way, stained with blood and an unreadable expression was plastered on his face.

Something was quiet terribly wrong.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: I should of done my homework, but this is more fun. Thanks for those who gave me feedback.

Chapter 1

_'Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday'_

The monotonous pattern drawn across the hospital walls was almost too much to bare. He always hated white, it stained and cracked so easily, often beyond repair.

He stepped into the still room, the darkness engulfed him, it was almost like stepping into a cold marbled room of a mausoleum after the sun had set. Complete darkness, there wasn't a hint of the silver world outside, the windows tightly shut, the chamber, a tomb-world where no sound from the great city could penetrate.

He was not alone.

Ziva lay stretched on the hospital bed, cold and uncovered, like a body on display, her eyes closed tightly, fixed to their lids by invisible threads of steel, unmoved.

The room was cold but nonetheless he felt he could not breathe. He did not wish to open the curtains, for he did not want the light to come into the room. So, with the feeling of a man who will die in the next hour for lack of air, he felt his way toward the cold bed.

An instant before his foot hit the her monitor, he knew he would hit such an object. His foot, sending vibrations ahead and receiving back echoes of the small barrier between his path to the bed, even as his foot swung. His foot kicked. The object made a dull click and slid off into the darkness. _CRASH!_

The noise startled her awake, the tiny tendrils connecting her to the machine slipped out of her body and her eyes once again slithered shut.

'You can't be in here'. Said a voice from the doorway. Tony spun around to face with the intruder. Immediately he recognised the man as a doctor. The warm face of the doctor was a vast contrast to the cold room that they were in, Dr. Sandoval had passed him many times whilst he waited in the hospital's corridors.

As the hours dragged on, he gave Tony a look of understanding. He had seen this before, Police and Feds alike, waiting anxiously in the hallway, debating whether or not to go into the room and see their colleague and friend.

'Ziva is stable, hers was an odd case, but she should be fine. The arrow was removed and we gave her a transfusion. If she takes her meds, she'll be out of here within a week' He said softly, so not to startle the man before him into wakefulness. His face portrayed the feelings of guilt and anger, surrounding him in a purple haze.

'Ok'. He murmured in response. 'Thanks'.

'Abigail'! Ducky yelled over the music in her lab. 'ABIGAIL'!

Abby spun around on her chair and clicked the volume down and said, 'Hi Ducky'

'I trust that you heard about what happened'. He stated solemnly. Jethro informed him of what happened when he arrived at the scene. He felt his chest drop down and split apart, his stomach rise in his throat.

It has and always will remain the same to him, women will never be viewed as equal in his eyes, until they are viewed equally in death. Ziva may not be dead, but his feelings remain unchanged, he has always been a chauvinist at heart.

'I've been analysing the compound that we found in the arrow from one of the victims to the arrow that the hospital sent me and they match'. Abby continued, deflecting the mention of Ziva.

'Well, what does it do'? Gibbs asked, appearing from the doorway and Abby smiled. Same old Gibbs.

'Well after I ran the victim's DNA and fingerprints through AFAS, I found out that these missing kids aren't missing kids at all'. Abby breathed out into one sentence.

She pulled up images of the victims and told them both, 'Every single victim's DNA and fingerprint sequence matched missing person's cases of elderly people. I think this compound actually stops and reverses the human body clock. All of the victims aged backward'.

'How long does it take for full effect'? Gibbs asked, astound by what he just heard.

'I'm no McGee but, taking into account the victim's age, the time they were missing and the age of bodies are.. I'd say one day shaves off one year'. Abby answered.

'Then we have a serious problem'. Ducky said gravely.

_Indeed they did._


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: I have officially finished Yr.11! I'm on holiday now. So I will be writing more, again, don't hold your breath for really regular updates.. I'm a teenager that needs social time :)

Chapter 2

_'You can't change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future'_

Sitting in the hospital room, Tony stared down at Ziva's still form. He bought her flowers. Daisies. She once told him she loved daisies.  
'Tali and I would sit together for hours making daisies chains in the spring'. She once reminisced.  
Tony didn't know that daisies grew in Israel. He thought it was too hot. She laughed when he said this, ' We had a great garden. My mother loved to garden'.

Gibbs told him what Abby had discovered, that Ziva would become younger as the days passed by them. It was absurd, but Abby was never wrong. A noise stirred Tony from his reverie and he stared at the man standing in the doorway.  
'Gibbs'. He uttered.  
'How is she'? The older man asked.  
'She's OK. The doctors expect her to wake up in a few hours'. Tony fiddled with the thick hospital blanket covering the woman in front of him.

'Tell her when she wakes up'. And with that, he was gone.  
Tony looked back down at his partner and brushed a stray hair out of her face.  
'We'll fix this Z'.

Gibbs walked into the Forensics lab with a Caf-Pow in hand. Abby and her new team were working on designing a cure.  
'What have you got Abbs'? Gibbs asked his hyperactive forensic scientist.  
'I've got a whoopee and a butt'. She announced and he stared at her incredulously.  
'Whoopee the 'virus' is curable but we can't quiet figure out how to create a compound to cure the original compound'. Abby explained.  
'I want Ziva cured Abbs'. With that, Gibbs left the lab.

Abby was annoyed. She had been working for 16 hours straight in an attempt to cure a woman that she couldn't care less about. Ziva wasn't a member of the team. She was taking Kate's place. She was replacing Kate. Ziva was a snooty know-it-all Mossad killer. Ziva was rude, pigheaded, aggressive and cold hearted. She had no emotions. Abby usually loved everybody, but she did not like Ziva and she definitely didn't want to help her. But Gibbs wanted the cure.

Why did Gibbs trust Ziva David? As far as Abby knew she was related to the same man that so mercilessly gunned down her best friend! How could Gibbs trust the sister of the man who killed Kate in cold blood? Abby knew one thing for sure. She hated Ziva David.

Ducky looked down at the corpse of the young child lying on his autopsy table with great sadness. It was such a shame for one so young to perish. This child was clearly strangled to death with a belt buckle. The young boy had soft downy blonde hair and he was of European descent. The external examination had proved to be a enlightening one, because tattooed on the boy's chest was an Arabic inscription 'Hāynrysh', which literally translated to the name 'Heinrich'. This young boy was in fact not a child, but an adult. This was Ahren Heinrich. The lab results would confirm what Ducky already knew, their suspect was dead.

Ziva's eyes shot open and she sprang upright, eliciting a gasp of pain from her lips. Breathing through the discomfort, she surveyed the room and came to the conclusion that she was in hospital.  
'Great'. She muttered to herself.  
The room was plain looking, the only thing that caught her attention was the beautiful daisies sitting in a vase on her bedside table.  
Her lips curved into a smile. Tony.  
She remembered what happened in the warehouse, she was injured and by the look and ... feel of it, she was hit in the chest.  
'Hey you're up'. Tony says as he walks to her bedside with a handful of food.  
'Looks like it'. She said, maneuvering herself back onto the bed.  
'I'll get the doctor'.  
Ziva nodded.

Once Tony left the room, she fiddled with her IV. She hated those things. Gripping at the needle, she braced herself to yank it out, but a voice startled her.  
'Leave the IV in please'. Said Dr. Sandoval.  
'Sorry'. She murmured.  
'It's good to see you're awake'. Dr. Sandoval looked at her chart.  
'Everything seems normal. Apart from the compound in your blood, you're healthy'. He said with a kind smile.  
'What compound'? She had a quizzical look etched into her features.  
'I'll leave that up to Agent DiNozzo to explain'. The Doctor said solemnly.

'Tony'?  
'Can you give us a moment'? Tony asked the .  
Once Sandoval stepped outside, Tony began to explain what was happening.

'That cannot be true'! She exclaimed. 'If you are yanking my rope, I will kill you'.  
'It's chain'. He corrected. 'And I'm telling the truth. This thing in your blood is de-aging you somehow. You've been in here for two days. You're 24 now'.  
'You're serious'?  
'Yes'.  
Ziva stared blankly at the wall in front of her.  
'I'd like to be alone, Tony'.  
Those words stabbed at his feelings, but instead of showing his hurt, he nod his head and shut the door behind him gently.

_How were they going to fix this?_


End file.
